Never Enough

• Never enough time to knit, never enough time to read, never enough time to blog, just never enough time, period.
• Never enough clothes that fit.  I’m too small for maternity clothes, too big for pre-preg clothes, and too cheap to buy stuff that will fit me right now, hoping as I am that I will lose the last 9 lbs. shortly.  Of course if I don’t stop eating crap that’s bad for me, I might get there sooner.
• Speaking of which, there is absolutely NO time to workout, though we do take a spin around the neighborhood nearly every day, and carrying around an almost-6-month-old all day has just got to burn some calories.  It has to count for something or I might cry.
• There’s never enough clean cloth diapers.  I do laundry nearly every day.
• There is, most definitely, NEVER enough sleep.  Never enough naps, never uninterrupted snoozing.
• Never enough money.  How is it that we still have to live paycheck to paycheck even with R. Darling’s good job and the fact that I never go anywhere anymore or spend money on myself (at all, ever)?
• There are never enough photos of Knittymunchkin.  I take as many as I can, but I know that someday I will still regret not taking more.  Especially pictures of us with him.  We have maybe 2 of those each :(
• There are never enough opportunities to hear my little boy laugh each day.  My face hurts sometimes from giggling along with his latest game.
• Never enough time for the garden.  It looks dried out and awful and it makes me sad how the weeds are taking over.
• There are never enough people in my world for whom to knit. I love to knit for other people but no one in my family appreciates hand knits (except for R. Darling, but seriously, how many hats and scarves can he really wear?). Do any of you know someone who would like a handknit? There’s only certain kinds of things I can knit for charity, and so many unsuitable patterns I’d love to try. But what to do with the finished item? I can’t wear it all!
• Never enough ways to keep my little one occupied during the day! He’s like a sponge, greedy for more stuff to soak up, and gets bored of the “usual” games so readily these days.

 
I did find time last weekend to try one new recipe though, part of my Day Zero goals.
 

I loves me some rhubarb!

 
I was excited to try this one as it is one of R. Darling’s Grandma’s recipes, and rhubarb (incredibly plentiful in my garden, despite neglect) is one of my all time favorite dessert components.  Unfortunately, the recipe didn’t live up to the hype (sorry Grandma!).  R. Darling gave it a 6, saying it needed more rhubarb, and I gave it a 6 too because the raspberry jello made it taste too much like raspberry and not enough like rhubarb.  Meh.  I won’t be making this again.  But at least I satisfied my curiosity and I am 3 recipes down out of my goal of 10.
 
R. Darling starts 2 weeks of vacation beginning tomorrow (though we have tons of scheduled appointments and he’s got 3 overtime shifts during his “vacation”).  I am so excited to maybe get  a little extra time for some knitting and maybe a little work in the garden.  I’d like to finish my book too.  Just the psychological value of having an extra pair of hands during the day taking care of Knittymunchkin will be priceless for me.
 
Hope you are all enjoying your summer vacation too!

Learning Curve

We’ve been having a time of it here at Chez Funkytown.  Knittymunchkin has been going through an extremely exhausting fussy stage, complete with wailing, waking up several times a night (from dead sleep to frantic crying in 1.5 seconds flat), not napping, and crying & pulling while nursing.  The only thing that keeps him mildly content is for me to carry him around all day long.  Needless to say, my back hurts.  Though he’s taken quite nicely to the Baby Bjorn that he used to hate.  Bonus!
 

When he was born, we found out he had acid reflux, which can be really common for preemies.  We have been giving him medicine for it for a few months and he’s been doing so well (not spitting up & not grunting with discomfort while laying down) that we thought we’d try discontinuing the medicine.  He seemed to be doing really well for a day or two, other than the increase in fussing & the waking up at night. Silly me, I didn’t put two and two together until he started spitting up again the past couple days.  D’oh!  Maybe it’s because he still needs his medicine, dummy!  So we’ve started that again and I’m keeping my fingers crossed it will bring him, and us, some relief.  Because this waking up every two hours all night long has got to stop.  I feel like spawn of the dead, all groggy and stuff all day long.  And knitting?  There’s been zip.zero.nada.
 

Sometimes this works too.....

 

I started doing some more extensive reading when he began having so much additional trouble sleeping recently.  It could also be a growth spurt or teething, but I don’t see any evidence of new tooth sprouts, so I don’t know about that.  I really think it’s the reflux coming back.  But I also found out that, apparently, I am a prime candidate for the SMITU award (Shittiest Mother In The Universe – smite you! – I just made that up), for even considering the notion of letting my child “cry it out” like I mentioned the other day.  Dr. Sears says so, so I guess it must be true.  I was just going by the books I’ve read up to this point which tell you you need to “train” your child to fall asleep on their own, otherwise they’ll never learn how.  But surprise surprise, Dr. Sears says you’ll just cause your child to cry more because you aren’t meeting their needs and when you do this you are cheaping out on creating a wonderful relationship with your baby.  Wow.  I really have a lot to learn.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’ll probably never be a militant full-on attachment parenting advocate (people should do what’s right for them, without judgment), but I do think we’ve  benefited from a kinder, gentler, approach towards bedtime. Yes, he does still need to be rocked to sleep for the most part, but he falls asleep faster than he used to and cries less.  Plus, I think we’re bonding more.  I guess it really is a win-win.
 

Meats & Veg In One Big Pot!

 

Despite all this crazy mama drama, I have still managed to find time to try one new recipe (part of my Day Zero Project goals).  I apologize to all you vegetarians out there who will be offended by my pot roast photo up there.  I’m sorry, but I still do eat meat.  I’ve never been very good at cooking it because, frankly, when I lived alone I mostly ate chicken, veg, & pasta.  But I now live with a bona fide carnivore and meat is what’s for dinner.  It’s been dang hot here so I was looking for something to cook in the crock pot that wouldn’t heat up the house.  A friend of ours came over to meet Knittymunchkin for the first time and was talking about going home to cook a pot roast.  He made it sound so easy I thought, why not?  I hopped on the inrawebz and found a likely recipe here.  Following some of the advice of the reviewers I changed it up a little and settled in for a 10 hour wait.  It smelled great and looked good when we dished up.  The flavor however, was missing something.  It’s not like it was bad, it just wasn’t amazing.  R. Darling gave it an 8 and I gave it a 7 for the meat and an 8 for the veg.  As in, I would cook it again, but it sorely needs something.  Any of you lovely readers have a secrety squirrel ingredient you’d be willing to share for fantastic pot roast?  I thought the balsamic vinegar I added would do the trick but sadly, no.  Maybe I didn’t add enough.
 

Well, it’s all part of my learning curve. I’m still on the upward climb, but I will get there someday. I have to!

Finish Along

My friend Jess from Knitting Up North is having a Finish-a-long and contest!  Man do I ever need this kick in the pants!  It’s one of my Day Zero Project (101 things in 1001 Days) goals to whittle my UFO’s down to 3 or less and I really got things started by finally finishing my Chameleon Scarf.  Too bad I didn’t wait on that one, because there’s a prize for completing the oldest UFO and I betcha that one would have taken the cake ;)  Anyway, come join the fun!  What a great way to motivate each other to get those knits out the door and onto some warm bodies!  Like Jess said, you’d be surprised how little there is left to do on some things.  I always discover this when I pull out an old project, and I always wonder to myself why I just laid it down instead of powering through.  Oh wait, it’s because I’m kind of addicted to the smell of new yarn.  The “old” stuff just doesn’t do it for me anymore!
 
So, onto my list.  I need to finish:
 

• Jaywalkers:  I’ve been working on a version of this since April 15, 2008, but have ripped it out and reworked it so many times that I’m really starting anew each time.  So the official start date of this one is June 14, 2010 and I am just about 20 rounds from finishing the first sock.  Then on to sock #2…
• BSJ:  This is completely finished except for the seaming and weaving in of ends and a few buttons.  Shouldn’t take much to do that!
• Felix Cardigan (like the ones I made here):  This one just needs buttons!  I originally made it for Knittymunchkin, but he’s a bit big for it now.  Maybe I’ll send it to our friends who are expecting a boy any day now.
• Cherry Fizz:  Started June 12, 2009 (really????).  I’m just over halfway finished.  Would love to get this done, but I’m thinking shooting for finishing the other 3 is more likely.

 
I also have 7 (yikes!) other UFO’s that are totally hibernating.  I obviously won’t finish these during the Finish-a-long, but they’re in my mind as next on the list.  Only trouble is, 4 of those are sweaters and I don’t expect to be working on any sweaters until I am back to my no-longer-breastfeeding sized self.  But all in good time.
 
Meanwhile, I did finish something recently for our neighbor who just had a new little girl.
 

A Little Pink Hat

 

• Pattern:  Simple Newborn Hat With A Touch Of Lace by Ginny Foreman (Ravelry link here; My Ravelry project link here)
• Yarn:  79.2 yds of Knit Picks Shine Sport in “Blush”
• Needles:  16 inch, Size 4 bamboo circs & Size 4 dpns
• Mods:  Made hat larger by casting on 99 stitches (instead of 81), and worked 2 inches after lace section instead of 1.5 inches

 
This hat was simple & quick to knit.  I love how it turned out!  Because I made it wider and not quite as tall (proportionally) as the original, it came out more like a beanie than a regular hat.  But I still like it.  Word is, the new Mama likes it too, though it fits her 2 year old better than her newborn.  Boo on that!  I made it bigger on purpose, but didn’t mean for it to be that big.  She kept telling us that her first daughter is in the 90th percentile for size, so I figured the new little one would have a big head too.  Guess not.  But at least it fits one of the kids!  That’s all I could ask for, I guess. And, best of all, it totally came from stash. Huzzah!
 
So come join us and finish up some of your UFO’s too!  I’d love to hear all about it :)

You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby

It was a year ago, this morning, that I stood in my bathrobe waiting.  Bare feet on the bathroom linoleum, I read the instructions one last time and set the timer.  Dimly, I heard my husband getting ready for work, moving back and forth in our bedroom on the other side of the wall.  I bit my lip.  What to think?  And then the timer went off.  I stopped it in a flash and picked up the little wand.  Staring back at me was a little blue “+”, the kind that some women crave and other women dread. Which was I?  I wasn’t sure, but took a breath and said, “Honey, our eggo is preggo!”, with a smile.  He jumped for joy.  And the rest is history.  So while this day is the celebration of the birth of our nation, for me there will always be another, more personal, reason to celebrate.